The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 1 =============================================================================== **Introduction Here is a step-by step guide on the basics of PRO. It assumes you have properly installed the program on a computer capable of running it. If not, see "Installation" in the Manual. This is not intended as an explanation of everything you will need to know to get the maximum use from the program. It will get you going in the right direction quickly. You will still need to: 1. Deliberately go through the motions described here. Reading about it is not the same as doing it. 2. USE THE HELP KEY <Alt-H> as you go. 3. Read the Manual for further information. Well, here goes: **Main Menu Navigation When PRO starts up and you see the opening screen, you are reminded that by using the program you agree to the License and Limited Warranty. More on this later. If you have assigned yourself a password you will have to type it here to be allowed to proceed. If this is the case, type it carefully and press <Enter> (The Key that says "Enter" and sometimes has a bent arrow on it.) PRO begins at the Main Menu, the point from which you make choices and sub-choices to direct the program to do your work. You make a choice by moving the Light Bar to one of the options at the top of your screen (like Time or Sched) and pressing <Enter>. You move the Light Bar with the LeftArrow (<LfArr>) and RightArrow (<RtArr>) Keys. (Look on the right side of the keyboard for keys with arrows pointing left and right.) Try pressing them a few times. Note that the Light Bar moves in the direction of the arrow each time you press one. As you reach either end of the Menu you "wrap" to the other end. So with the Light Bar on Time one <LfArr> keystroke takes you to Prog. You select a Main Menu choice by pressing <Enter>. As you can see, this brings up another Menu called a Pulldown that gives you a series of subchoices. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 2 =============================================================================== **Pulldown Menu Navigation Once you arrive at a Pulldown Menu you see a submenu of options that perform jobs about the Main Menu Option you picked. But before you get into detail about subchoices, here are a two other navigation tips. To return to the Main Menu press the Escape Key <Esc>. Try it now. In fact, try moving to several Pulldown Menus and back to the Main Menu. There is another way to pick an option at the Main Menu. Pressing the first letter of the Main Menu option takes you to it and pops open the Pulldown Menu. First try getting to the Sched Pulldown Menu by pressing <RtArr> and <Enter>. Press <Esc> to return to the Main Menu. Move the Light Bar with a couple of <RtArr>'s. Now press the letter "S." Note that this pops also open the Sched Pulldown. Also, at any Pulldown Menu pressing <LfArr> or <RtArr> takes you directly to the Pulldown next door. **Adding a New Time Record-Date After you are comfortable with moving to the different Pulldown Menu's and back to the Main Menu, move to the Time Pulldown to review the basics there. First you will Add New Time Record. At the Time Pulldown put the Light Bar on "Add New Time" and press <Enter>. This displays or "pops open" what appears to be a blank card or form. The idea here is that you fill in the blanks and save the form for future use. PRO refers to the contents of each separate form or card as a "Record." The blinking "Cursor" is a pointer to show you "where you are" on the screen. When you type something it will appear at the Cursor. If you make a mistake, use the <LfArr> ("left arrow") or <RtArr> keys to move the Cursor to the problem, then press <Del> to delete it. Or just move the Cursor and type over it. When you first arrive at the New Time Record the Cursor is in the first blank space or "Field." PRO often tries to make life easier by making an educated guess about what you may want to put in a Field. Here it guesses a date based on Records you have already typed and saved. Note that the Cursor is on the second character of the day portion of the Date, which PRO figures is the one you are most likely to want to alter. From here you can accept the proposed Date by pressing <Enter>, or you can change it in several ways. More on this later. For now just go along with the proposal by pressing <Enter>. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 3 =============================================================================== **New Time Record-Matter & Time Now enter the three-character Matter Code representing the Matter for which you did the work. If you type a Code that is not represented by a Record in the Matter File, PRO will reject it, give you a message "Invalid Matter" on the bottom line of the screen, and put the Cursor back in the Matter Field for another try. To demonstrate, type "XXX" (not a Matter Code recognized by PRO when you begin) and press <Enter>. See? Now type "MIS," a valid Matter Code standing for your Miscellaneous Matter, and press <Enter>. Note the different behavior? PRO now accepts what you typed and shows you the Matter Name. Here is why. There must be a Record in the Matter File with a Matter Code that matches what you type in the Matter Field. Note: From here on you will not be told to press <Enter> every time you type information in a Field. But do it anyway to tell PRO you are finished. So now the Cursor is in the Hours Field. Enter 2 to signify 2 hours. You cannot enter a number more than 23 hours (as a protection for your credibility). Next enter 45 for 45 minutes. This figure must be a multiple of 5, and not more than 55. Try typing 27 and see what happens. Note: You must enter either Hours or Minutes or both. **New Time Record-The Memo Field You are now in the Memo Field, where you type free form text that is appropriate in your work environment to describe your work. You may need to be detailed, like when your daily time ends up on a bill that a Client is invited to pay, or the details may not matter. Although the Memo Field is not a fixed and limited length like other Fields, there are a couple of practical constraints. First, your computer's memory will not allow an infinitely large Memo. With 640k of memory you should be able to handle 4 or 5 single-space pages without a problem. Second, your Client would probably prefer shorter paragraphs than 3 single-space pages of words about a single piece of work anyway. For practice, type "Work on revisions of Article II." or whatever. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 4 =============================================================================== **Finishing The New Time Record Congratulations! You have finished your first New Time Record. So press <Esc> to signify that you are through. You must now confirm that you want to save your creation. Press <Enter> to answer "Yes." You could have moved the Cursor to "No" and pressed <Enter>. This would have erased the Record without saving it. Also, pressing <Esc> while being asked "Yes or No" means "No." You can also finish a Record by pressing <Alt-A>. The difference is that <Alt-A> automatically saves the Record without asking, and immediately brings up another blank Record so you can immediately Add another one. **The New Time List Leaving the New Time Record with <Esc> takes you to the New Time List. The Light Bar is on the new Record you just finished. Although you can't see all of it, you can see enough to recognize it and pick it out on the List for later review. This illustrates the purpose of a List: to enable you to look through a number of Records quickly and find the one you want to see in detail. More on the List later. For now we will return to Adding Time for a few more details. Press <Ins>, which means "leave the List and Add a new Record." **Other Ways To Enter a Date <Ins> at the List Adds a new Record. So you now see a blank New Time Record waiting for you to enter Data. Let's explore several features to help with Adding Time. With the Cursor in the Date Field press the Plus Key <+>. The Date increases by a day. Now try the Minus Key <->. You guessed it. What if you need a Calendar to look up the Date? Press <Alt- 1>. (Hold down the Alt Key and press the number Key "1" at the same time.) Up pops a Calendar. Use the <Arr> keys to move the little Light Bar around from date to date. <UpArr> and <DnArr> skip to earlier and later weeks. <PgUp> and (PgDn> move to earlier and later months. Get to a Date you like and press <Alt-J.> The Calendar disappears, and PRO types in the highlighted Date and moves to the next Field. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 5 =============================================================================== **Looking Up a Matter Now, suppose you can't remember the right Code for the Matter you want. With the Cursor in the Matter Field, press <Alt-L> to "look up" the Code. You then see a List of your Matters. Use <DnArr> and <UpArr> to move the Light Bar from Matter to Matter. Try moving to the ZZZ Matter. Press <Alt-J> to inJect the Code at the Light Bar into the underlying Record. There! Your New Time Record says ZZZ in the Matter Field. **Increasing or Decreasing Hours and Minutes With the Cursor in the Hours or Minutes Field note that <+> and <-> increase and decrease these values within allowed limits. (You can't go under zero or over 23 hours 55 minutes.) **Shorthand in the Memo Field Now press <Tab> to move to the Memo Field. Can't type too all that well? Try Shorthand. First press the Backslash Key (<\>). Next type an Abbreviation in the box. Try typing the letter "C." Finally, press the Space Bar. (The long Key on the bottom row.) PRO types into the Memo Field the full phrase the code stands for, here "Conference with." Can't remember the Abbreviation? First press <\>, then <Alt- L> to look up the right Abbreviation. You see a List of your Shorthand File, which contains Records consisting of Abbreviations and Complete Phrases. Use <DnArr> and <UpArr> to move the Light Bar to the one you want and press <Alt-J>. Note that a pattern is emerging. If you don't recall something in another File (like Matters or Shorthand) and you need it to complete a Field, you can usually look it up with <Alt-L>. You then see a List to let you find it. Once you have the one you want, stick it into the underlying Record by pressing <Alt-J>. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 6 =============================================================================== **Adding a Record While Looking Up What if there is no Shorthand Record for the Abbreviation you need? The Shorthand Lookup is a List like any other. Try this: from the Memo Field press <\> then <Alt-L> to bring up the Shorthand List. Now press <Ins> to Add a new Shorthand Record. Fill in the Abbrev Field with "O" and the Complete Phrase Field with what you want O to stand for, say "O beautiful for spacious skies!" Now finish Adding with <Esc> and "Yes." On the Shorthand List is your new Record. Finally, InJect it into the underlying Memo with <Alt-J>. Another pattern: when looking up, you can Add new Records with <Ins>, and still inJect them into the underlying Record. **New Time List Navigation Now return to the Time List. To get there you may need to Press <Esc> from Add New Time. First note again that the List contains multiple rows, and each row displays some but not all the Data in a Record. Start out by navigating the List with the <UpArr> and <DnArr> Keys. The Light Bar moves as you press these Keys. Press <Enter> to open up the entire highlighted Record for review or changing. Then press <Esc> to return to the List. Try it. The List is where you Delete Records you don't want any more. Just press <Del> and answer "Yes" when asked "Delete Record?" If you answer "No" the Record remains undeleted. Try Deleting a Record or two. You already know that at the List you can Add a new Record by pressing <Ins>. **New Time List-Flagging and Unflagging Press <Alt-F> to insert a Flag next to a Record. (A little arrowhead to mark the Record.) Hold down <Alt-F> to Flag several in a row. <Alt-G> removes the Flag. Now Flag a couple of New Time Records and press <Del>. You Flag Records to perform an operation (like Delete) on multiple Records at once. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 7 =============================================================================== **Finding a Record-Seek There are two ways to get help in finding a Record you want at the New Time List. First, try "Seek." To set up an experiment, Add several Records with Dates a month or more later than the first Record on the List. Now move the Light Bar to the top of the List with <Ctrl-PgUp> (Hold down the <Ctrl> Key and press <PgUp> at the same time.) Next type the number of the month of one of your new experimental Records. Ex: for July type 07. For October type 10. The Light Bar moves immediately to the first Record on the List where the Month matches the one you typed. Now keep typing to fill in the Day. Ex: 0704 for July 4. The Light Bar finds any matching Date. If there is none it goes to the next Record further down the List if there is one. **Finding a Record-Locate The other handy tool for finding a Record is Locate. Again, set up an experiment first. Add a Record where the Memo contains a word you will recall, like "Chicago" or "draft" or whatever. Save the Record and return to the New Time List. Go to the top of the List. (Try <Ctrl-PgUp> for the most direct route to the first Record on this or any List.) Now press <Alt-L>. Type the phrase you want to find. The Light Bar moves to the first Record containing the phrase. You may not be able to see enough of the Memo at the List to confirm that the word is there. So press <Enter> to Inspect the Record. The word will be in the Memo Field somewhere. Finding a Record is no big deal at the New Time List because it should be and usually is short enough to enable you to find Records "manually" with the <Arr> Keys. But remember: the techniques you are learning for New Time List navigation WORK IN ALL OTHER LISTS AS WELL. Other Files may be quite large with many Records. So remember Seek and Locate. **The Day Summary See what happens when you press <Alt-N> at the New Time List. A box pops up with the Date, Time, and a total of Billable and Unbillable hours already entered in the New Time File for the day at the Light Bar. This is a handy way to check your progress as you work, and to insure that you keep up with your expenditure of Time as the day progresses. Note that the day summarized is the Date of the Record at the Light Bar. So if there are Records for multiple days, move to the day you need summarized before you press <Alt- N>. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 8 =============================================================================== **Using Help Speaking of handy tools, try pressing <Alt-H> for Help. PRO displays one or more screens of instructions about the job you are doing when you press <Alt-H>. The first screen is usually a list of all Keys available to you with a description of what they do. Keep pressing any Key for more and more help on the topic at hand. PLEASE READ IT AND DO WHAT IT SAYS. It is amazing how often computer users new and old miss out on the full power of the program they are using simply because they decline to read the readily available instructions and fail to adopt a "Let's try it!" attitude. So don't drive your new car around in first gear. All Help screens are Records in the Help File. This means that you can get to the Help List from the Files Main Menu option. Here you can browse the Help List, or use Locate (<Alt-L>) to find Records relating to topics of interest. Pay attention to the first few Records at the top of the List (the ones beginning with "**"). They contain more information on using Help and a guide to the Keys used by PRO. Note that many help Records refer you to related topics by enclosing 3 characters in parentheses. To read these related Help Records, return to the Help List and Seek the letters referred to. Try this example: From the Main Menu press <Enter> to pop up any Pulldown Menu. Press <Alt-H> to invoke Help about the Pulldown Menu. Press any 2 keys to bring up the third Record. Note that among other things it gives a general description of the "Month Summary" option on the Time Pulldown. Note the reference to (TRM) in parentheses. For more information on the topic, return to the Main Menu, go to the Files Menu, pick "Help," and press "TRM." This "Seeks" the related Help Record. Now press <Enter> to pop it open and read it. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 9 =============================================================================== **Leaving the New Time List & Quitting From the New Time List press <Esc>. You return to the Time Pulldown Menu. Now press <Esc> again. Back you go to the Main Menu. Now press it one more time. For now answer "No" when asked if you want to quit. By answering "Yes" you shut down the program and return to the DOS prompt. Note that <Esc> usually means "Go back where I was before I started this." Pressing it enough times from anywhere in the program takes you back to the Main Menu and ultimately to DOS. Most of the things you have learned so far apply to other other PRO files as well as to New Time. From here we'll visit the other major areas of PRO activity before dealing with other options on the Time Pulldown Menu. **Adding a Schedule Record Next we will look at your Schedule, where you will keep track of information about upcoming events, make your plans and monitor your daily activities. First, Add a "Sched" (Schedule) Record by navigating to the Sched PullDown Menu and choosing Add, or choosing List and pressing <Ins>. You then see a blank Sched Record where you are invited to fill in individual forms or Records reflecting upcoming events in your Schedule. The first Field of the new Sched Record is Date. You fill in the Date on which the event is to occur or work is to be done. This ought to be a snap for you since it works just like the Date in the Time Record. The only difference is that PRO guesses you want today's date. Remember: you can type the Date, use <+> or <->, or use the Calendar. You have to fill in a valid Date to save the Record. (This is a "Required Field.") Try pressing <+> a couple of times to Add a Record for two days from now. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 10 =============================================================================== **Schedule Record-Matter & Type Next enter the Matter Code associated with the Schedule event. This works just like it does in Time. You can look it up with <Alt-L> if you don't remember it. You can also put nothing and press <Enter>. PRO types in your Miscellaneous Code "MIS." Next you specify one of 6 Types of Schedule events: DEADLINE: This is the last day to finish this task, and something dire will occur if you don't get it done. Type a "d" in this Field, press <Enter>, and PRO will spell it out for you. All Deadlines are CAPITALIZED for emphasis. Block: One task or pleasure is expected to take up this entire day. You may still Add other Types for the day in question, but a Block Record will remind you to do so only after careful planning. Ex: Trip to Houston, or Vacation at Elbow Cay. Enter "b," press <Enter>, and PRO does the rest. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 11 =============================================================================== **Schedule Record-More Types Yearly- An annual event like a birthday, holiday or anniversary. Type "y" and <Enter> to fill in. Appointment-The event will occur at a certain hour of the day. You fill in a time using either 12 or 24 hour format depending on the "AmPm" Field of your System Record. Fill in all or the first part of the time of the Appointment, and the program will attempt to fill in the rest. Ex: 9 is ok. So is 1113am. If you fill in less than all of an appointment time, PRO tries to guess the rest and fill in for you. So 9 becomes 900am or 0900. 94 becomes 940am. You must use the correct format for however much of the time you fill in. This format is different for 12 and 24 hour time. So 4529pm won't do. Neither will 6864. If you are using 12 hour format the hour must be 12 or less and the minutes 59 or less. If you use 24 hour format the hour can be up to 23. So 12-hour needs to look like 1135am or 420pm. 24-hour looks like 0430 or 1900. To Do- Something that needs to be done on the day, but not at a particular time, and it's not a DEADLINE. Type "t" of nothing at all. Reminder- Calls your attention to a future event like a DEADLINE. Experiment with the Type Field a while before moving on. You will be using it a lot. Note that you can erase it entirely with <Ctrl-Y>. So try these examples: Fill in a Deadline by typing "d" and <Enter>. Now a Block by typing "b" and <Enter>. Now a Yearly by typing "y" and <Enter>. Now a 900am appointment by typing '9" and <Enter>. Now a 930am appointment by typing '93" and <Enter>. Now a 930pm appointment by typing '930pm" and <Enter>. Now a "To Do" by pressing <Enter>. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 12 =============================================================================== **Schedule Record-Description Now type in a description of the event. The details will vary depending on the type. Ex: "FILE NOTICE OF APPEAL." "Joann's Birthday." "Meet Jack Lunch at Dover Deli." "Redraft Monroe Doctrine." Or whatever. If you put nothing in the RP ("Responsible Person") field, PRO will assume it's your responsibility and fill in your User ID from your System Record User ID Field. Type in someone else's name to designate another person. BE SURE TO LET THE OTHER PERSON KNOW. When you first Add a Schedule Record you may fill the next 3 optional Fields for the number of days before the event you want to be reminded about it. PRO will then post appropriate Reminder Records for you. **Schedule Record-Info Finally, you may have a need for 1 or 2 lines of miscellaneous info about the event, like "Bring drawing revisions," or the street address of the meeting. Try Adding a few "real" Sched Records reflecting events you need to recall. Birthdays of loved ones are nice. **Repeating-The Art of Reusing Data What if you need to post several Records that are almost but not quite the same? Say you are assigned 10 separate deadlines for chapters in your new novel. Add the first Deadline Record for 06/01/93 in the ZZZ Matter, with description "MAIL CHAPTER 1 TO PUBLISHER." Press <Alt-A> to save it. Next fill in the Date of the Chapter 2 Deadline, press <Enter>, and press <Alt-R> 3 times. PRO repeats the Matter, Type and Description from the previous Record. All you have to do is to return to the Description Field and change "1" to "2." You can save repetitious effort using this trick throughout PRO. Your ability to save yourself effort will depend in part on your creativity in "borrowing" Data from existing Records. Remember that PRO duplicates the contents of the same field in the Current Record on the List. So find a near match, position the Light Bar on it, press <Ins> to Add a new Record, and then press <Alt-R> on every Field you want copied. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 13 =============================================================================== **The Schedule List Now return to the Sched List with <Esc>. Like all Lists, it shows you multiple rows of information, each containing part but not all the Data in a single Sched Record. Remember that the purpose of a List is overview and quick navigation to single Records for detailed review or editing. Most of what you learned at the New Time List applies here and will not be repeated in detail. Sched Records appear in order by Date. Within each Date they are in order by Type, with Deadlines first, then Block, Yearly, Appointments, To Do, and Reminder. This allows you to see a quick but thorough summary of each day's activities. As with the Time List, you move the Light Bar with the <Arr> Keys. Also <PgUp> and <PgDn> move you up or down the List a screen at a time. <Ctrl-PgUp> and <Ctrl-PgDn>bottom of List. "Seeking" a Date works a little differently than at the New Time List. First create some Records for demonstration purposes. Add a Sched Record for several months from today, but within the Current Year. Then Add one for a Date next year. Now Seek the Current Year Record by typing the Month and the Day like this: 0704 (July 4). The Light Bar moves right to the Date you typed. Next try Seeking the Record you created for next year. Here you type the YEAR, month and Day like 930704. So for the Current Year you don't need to enter the Year. For later years you do. "Locate" works as it does on the New Time List, except that PRO searches the Description Field to find the "Target" characters you specify. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 14 =============================================================================== **The Schedule List Tools Menu The Sched List comes with a set of procedures to help you do commonly required things quickly and easily. You use these procedures by pressing <Alt-M> at the Sched List. This brings up the Schedule List Tools Menu. This menu works just like a Pulldown Menu. You move the Light Bar and press <Enter> to "do" the highlighted option. Remember: you are learning the basics here. So after you get some experience read the Manual and press <Alt-H> for Help to explore in more detail. For now, and for example: Add several To Do Records of your choice to use in this experiment. Next return to the Schedule List and Flag them with <Alt-F>. Now press <Alt-M> to bring up the List Tools. Choose "Move." To redate each of the Flagged Records 7 days later, pick "Days" and enter "7." You could have chosen 1 week, 3 months, or 5 years. Another example: Say you need to follow up on the status of a project every month. Add a To Do Record in the MIS Matter and put "Follow up on Manhattan Project" as the Description. Save the Record. Return to the List. Bring up to Tools with <Alt-M>. Choose "Repeat." Choose "Months" as the Unit, 1 as the Number, and 10 as the Times. This instructs PRO to repeat the Current Record every month for 10 months. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 15 =============================================================================== **Adding Names By now you are hopefully getting the idea that the way you work within the various applications (Time, Sched and so on) is quite similar. As we continue by exploring Names this similarity will hopefully speed up the learning process. We'll begin by navigating to the Names Main Menu option, opening the Pulldown Menu and choosing "Add." As you can see from the blank Record for the Names file, this is where you will keep the basic facts you need about people, companies, and other entities. Now enter a Record for someone you know well, perhaps a relative or friend. In the first Field you type a "key" that is unique for this Name. Note: The program will not let you enter a Key identical to an existing one. As you enter key Data, PRO checks it and tries to prevent errors like duplicate Keys. To assign a Key to your example person, try all or part of the last name and maybe a little of the first name as well. Ex: JONESJ. For a nonperson try the beginning letters of the name. Ex: AMALG. Because each key must be unique, another Jones might have the Key JONESK. Next fill in the Full Name. This is a little tricky because with a person you type the last name, a "/" and the first name, while with a company you enter the name straight away. If you are confused, press <Alt-H> for further guidance. Your person's name should look something like "Jones/John." You do not have to fill in any fields except a Key and a Name. You may just want to use the Record to keep up with the person's phone number, or you may need all the rest of the information. Add as much as you know and will need again. About the phone number: omit the area code if the call is "local" from where you normally call. Entering anything in the Area Code Field tells PRO this is a long distance number. The Fields under the "Phone" Field are for other phone numbers with a short description of each, like "Car," "FAX," or "Mother's." If the person is normally associated with a Matter, enter the Matter Code in the "Lead Matter" Field. As usual, you can press <Alt-L> to look it up if your memory needs help. In the Info Field put whatever else you need to know quickly when you call. If the person is your dentist put your account number. Or put "Attorney for Parthenon Associates," or "Lawn Mower Expert" or whatever. As you will learn later in connection with "Selecting" Records, think in terms of GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 16 =============================================================================== key words you logically associate with the person. OK, save the Record now. If you wish, go ahead and Add others. **Names List After you have explored Adding Names, press <Esc> to get to the Names List. As usual, each row reveals part of the Data about each Name. Note that this Data conveniently includes the phone number and Lead Matter if any. So at the List you will probably may be able to see everything you need to make a phone call without Inspecting the Record. To see the entire Record, press <Enter>. To go back to the List press <Esc>. To "Seek" a Record quickly type the letters of the Key. The Light Bar goes there or at least into the area where the Name you want is probably located. Or press <Alt-L> and all or a part of the Full Name. Try using the "first letter" approach to menu navigation. From the Main Menu the keys <L><Enter><JON> (6 keystrokes in all) will probably allow you to zero in on the names and phone numbers of at least most of the Jones you know. To see the Names List Tools Menu press <Alt-M>. To get more information on what can happen there, press <Alt-H> for Help. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 17 =============================================================================== **Building Your Client File Up to now you have been practicing. Now it is time to start building a real and lasting information base. This change in tone occurs as you are reviewing the Names File because this is where you Add Records to reflect the existence of Clients. A CLIENT IS A NAME WITH SOMETHING (anything) IN THE "CLIENT NUMBER" FIELD. To begin the process, get the names of several people or companies or entities you will probably act for in the next few days. PRO calls these "Clients." If your office uses numbers to identify Clients, get these as well. Also get their phone numbers. Now Add a Names Record for each. Include the Client Number in the proper Field. If you don't use Client Numbers put "None." You are not ready to fill in the Lead Matter Field yet. Don't put anything in it. Repeat this process for the others you chose. Note: Do not be concerned that other Clients may be left out if not included here. PRO makes it very easy to Add Client and Matter Records on the fly as you need new ones. We are just getting started here. When you finish your 5 or so, press <Esc> rather than <Alt- A> to Save the Record. If you press <Alt-A> and get a new blank Record you don't need right now, just press <Esc>. Then press <Esc> a second time when PRO tells you that the new blank Record is missing Required Fields. The second <Esc> is the same as answering "No" to the question of whether you want to try again. Now Edit the Client Record for yourself to see that it contains a correct Client Number (if any is normally used by your office). If you are using PRO 1.0 and have not previously done so, Add a Client Record for yourself. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 18 =============================================================================== **Building Your Matter File Now get the names of the projects, files or assignments you expect to be working on for the several Clients you have picked out during the next few days. PRO calls these "Matters." Again, get the numbers your office uses to identify these Matters if applicable. Remember this basic idea: PRO has to be told about the existence of a Client before you can tell it about a Matter. In turn, it must know about a Matter before you can enter Time, Schedule events, or Items of information related to that Matter. So, with respect to any piece of work about which you wish to keep information: FIRST: Add a Record identifying the Client in the Names File. SECOND: Add a Matter Record at the Files Menu. THIRD: Now you are ready to Add Time, Sched, Items and so on. It's time to Add Matters. Return to the Main Menu, choose "Files," then choose "Matters" from the Pulldown. This gets you to the Matter List. Here you will enter a Record for each of the projects or files you picked out. First press <INS> to Add a Matter. You then see a blank Matter Record. The first Field is Matter Key. Assign a three-character Key that will be unique to the Matter. Ex: Blackacre v. Forrest case might be BLF. Next, fill in the full name (within permitted space limitations) of the Matter. Next, in the Client Key Field type the Key you have assigned to the Client for whom you are doing the project. This is the Key you gave the Client in the Names Record. (Remember?) If you have forgotten it, press <Alt-L> to look it up in the Names File, and <Alt-J> to Insert it into the Matter Record. Assign the applicable Matter Number if any, or put "None" in the Matter Number Field. If you or someone else in your office intends to get paid for what you do in the Matter, put "Y" in the Billable Field. This allows you to distinguish between paying and nonpaying work like office personnel relations, community service, church work and so on. In the Info Field you may want to put such useful facts as where the File is stored or the name of the Billing supervisor. You do not have to put anything here. Now save the Matter Record, Repeat the process for the other GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 19 =============================================================================== projects you picked out as being likely to require your attention soon. While you are Adding Matter Records, Add one with a key "VAC" to track your vacation time, and "SIC" for sick days. You are the "Client" in both these Records; so type your Key in the Client Key Field. They are most probably Unbillable. Now that you have Added some real Matter Records, you may want to go back to the Names Records and insert the Matter Codes of the "Lead Matters" you want to be associated with each Name. **Things To Remember About Data Relationships You can by now see that key Data in one File must be the same as Fields in another File. Ex: The Matter Field in Time or Sched must contain a Matter Code that exists in the Matter File. You can typically look up this needed Data in the related File and insert it directly into your new Record. This lookup capability exists throughout PRO. You obviously must have already created the related Record in the other File before this will work. When you have done this, PRO automatically supplies other information like the Full Matter Name. Also note that although it may be easier to begin by Adding a Client, then a Matter keyed to the Client, and finally Time, Sched, Names and Items keyed to the Matter, PRO lets you carry out the process backwards by starting a Record, realizing you have not created a Matter, and creating it on the fly. Try this: Add a Sched Record. In the Matter Field try to look up a Matter you have not ever thought about before. Understandably you do not find it. So while at the Matter List doing the lookup, press <INS> to Add a new Matter Record. When you complete it, save it, return to the Matter List and press <Alt-J> to Insert it directly into the Sched Record you have started. This works at yet another level. Suppose that in Adding the Matter Record in the prior paragraph you couldn't recall the Client Key, looked it up with <Alt-L>, and found that there was no Client Record. Press <INS> at the Client List, Add it, Insert it into the Matter Record, and proceed. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 20 =============================================================================== **Defining The Item Items are bits and pieces of information about just about anything: notes of a phone call, checklists for what points to cover in a meeting, outlines, summaries of research, grocery lists, arguments for a brief, etc., etc. By relating them to a Matter and a Date, and by assigning them a Type and a Description, you begin to impose some order on them and even make it possible to find and reuse them as needed. This is the idea behind the Item File. For example, this presentation on "How To Get Started" was prepared using Items. The Type of each Record was "StartUp" and the Description contained a phrase that is unique to the individual Record. PRO does not attempt to compete with heavy duty word processor programs in formatting and managing large masses of words, but its Items capability enables you to write things down quickly, and then to find, organize and present information effectively. **Adding Items By now you can probably do this without a lot of guidance. First fill in a Date that is related the Item. This is probably the day you type it, which is what is in the Field when you begin. It may be a description of something that happened on another Date, though. So change it as necessary. Use <+> and <-> to change the Date or find it and Insert it from the Calendar. Now the Matter. Nothing new here. If the Item related to no particular Matter or if you don't know or are in a hurry, PRO inserts "MIS," the Code for your Miscellaneous Matter. Now the Type. Try to use a brief label that categorizes the Item in a way that you expect will be shared by a lot of other Items, like "Phone Call" or "Conference" or just plain "Note." By contrast, the Description should be unique to this Item. Look at the Type and Description of the Items making up this presentation as an example. Now the free form text. This is where the action is. Type whatever you need to in the Memo Field. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 21 =============================================================================== **The Item List This should be looking somewhat familiar to you by now. Type the Matter Code to Seek the Matter. Use <Alt-L> to locate a word in the Description or Memo. Press <Alt-M> for the Item List Tools Menu. Press <Alt-H> from there for more information. **More on the Memo Because you will probably use this Field an awful lot, there are a lot of Tools and things to know to make entering free form words a little easier. Try these things: Shorthand: as you did with the Memo Field in Time, press <\> to invoke Shorthand. Try typing "O" for an example. Press <Alt-L> instead of typing something to bring up the Shorthand List. You can and undoubtedly should add, delete and alter the precanned Shorthand Records to suit your needs. <Alt-Y> to Delete the entire Current Line, or <Alt-T> to delete the next word. <Home>, <End>, <Pg-Up>, <PgDn>, <Ctrl-PgUp>, <Ctrl-PgDn>, <Ctrl-LfArr> to move Cursor quickly. <Alt-Z> to pop open ("Zoom") the Memo to "full page," then another <Alt-Z> to unzoom back. <Alt-M> for a Menu of Tools. Type some example text and spend some time experimenting with these. <Alt-B> to mark the first or the last of a block or hunk of words you want to do something with. Once you "drop" a Block Marker you are expected to drop a second one to delineate the other end of the text you want. <Esc> cancels the Block operation. When you press <Alt-B> again to finish marking the text, you get a Menu of choices of what to do with the block. If you choose Copy or Move, you are then expected to position the Cursor at the point in the text of the Current memo where you want to deposit the text or a copy of it. Press <Enter> when you are ready. The Clipboard is like a piece of scratch paper but much more useful. You can cut text to it and paste text from it. It is a good way to move text from one Item to another or duplicate recurring text in multiple memo's. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 22 =============================================================================== *Selecting a Group of Records Note that Time, Sched, Names and Items Pulldown Menus have a "Select" option. This takes you into the process of describing and picking out a group of less than all the Records in the File for further action, usually doing a Report. The best way to learn how to do it is to do it. Press <Alt- H> as you go for more details. Here is an example to show you how it works: You want to do a Report on the Items in the ZZZ Matter. So choose "Select" at the Items Pulldown. At the next Menu press Now press <Esc> to return to the Selection Menu and press <Enter> to Make the Selection. After a few moments you see a List. Note that it contains ONLY the Items you described, here only those in the ZZZ Matter. The "Selection" stays in effect until you return to the Describe Selection menu and "Cancel Selection," or (more simply) press <Esc> twice to return to the Main Menu. **Reporting A number of Pulldowns contain a "Report" option. Choose it to do reports of the contents of your Files. You can choose "Display" to show the Report on your screen, "Printer" to print it or "Text File" to write it to a Disk File. Note: Before attempting to print anything, review the Manual about how to set up your printer. Once again, the best way to learn is by doing. Try running a number of Reports and Displaying them to get a feel for what is available. If you use your computer on a daily basis and interact with PRO as it is intended to be used, you will find that you usually have to print Reports only when thay are for someone else or for you in a situation where you cannot use PRO. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 23 =============================================================================== **A Familiar Sequence-Calling,Noting and Timing Many of us spend much of each day making calls, recording substantive information learned during the call, and writing up the call for timekeeping purposes. The "Make Call" choice on the Names List Tools Menu automates a lot of the repetitive work connected with this endeavor. Start at the Names List by positioning the Light Bar on the Name of someone you need to talk to. Press <Alt-M> to bring up the Names List Tools Menu. Pick Make Call. If the "Modem" Field of your System Record is "Y," PRO will first attempt to dial the number for you. You must in fact have a modem that is properly attached to your computer and turned on. PRO next constructs a number to dial based on the Names Record and the instructions in your System Record. You can edit the proposed dialing sequence if you wish. If you press <Enter> it attempts to dial the number. <Esc> skips the dial attempt and relies on you to do it. Next PRO brings up a new Item. It has already filled in the Date, Matter, Type and Description based on what it knows from the Names Record. You can of course edit this information as needed. You can then make notes about the call if you need to preserve any information. Remember: this is your electronic legal pad. What you type needs to mean something to you, but to no one else. You may or may not decide to save the new Item Record. Finally PRO proposes a New Time Record in which it inserts the Date, the Matter, the time based on the actual elapsed time of the call, and the start of a Memo about the call. You will propably need to work on the Record some more, but you don't have to start from scratch. **The Files Menu This Main Menu choice gives you direct access to your Matters, Clients and Shorthand. Choosing one of these options at the Pulldown takes you to a List of the File. From there you can Add, Delete, Seek, and so on. The Help File List allows you to browse through the Help File like an online manual, using Seek and Locate to look up points of interest. You cannot Add or Delete Help Records. The Report option here enables you to print Matter, Client and Shorthand Lists. Take special note of the Matter Activity Report. It gives you a great overview of what is going on in your Matters. Among other uses, it guides you in following up on "stale" Matters. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 24 =============================================================================== **The Util Menu This Main Menu option is where you perform necessary tasks to keep everything else tidy and running properly. Here is a quick overview: Backup and Restore: these choices enable you to make BACKUP COPIES OF YOUR FILES, and then to use them WHEN (not if) you need them. MAKE BACKUPS FREQUENTLY! Index All and Index Sys: these rework the order in which you see Record in Files, and throw out all old unneeded Records. System: here you set up the controls to make PRO conform to your hardware capabilities and your preferences. Prog Menu: here you control what other programs PRO will run for you from the Prog Menu. This is a REAL time saver. So after you get reasonably comfortable with the basics, take a little time to adapt the Prog Menu to your needs. See Help or the Manual for details on all Util choices. **The Prog Menu From this Main Menu choice you can run other programs on your Hard Disk directly from PRO. There are several advantages to doing this: 1. You don't have to quit PRO, remember the correct command to run the other Program from DOS, get it going, and then restart PRO when you finish it. This is all automatic. 2. PRO can keep a Program Log for you to keep track of your use of programs. 3. PRO can post a partially completed New Time Record reflecting your use of the other program. When you get started, PRO is configured to allow you to go to DOS and configure your printer. You can and should quickly add other programs you use a lot. See Help or the Manual for details. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 25 =============================================================================== **Bringing It All Together: Your Daily Routine Although you will adapt the capabilities of PRO to your unique situation, you will probably find it useful to establish a daily routine that includes these steps: 1. As you begin your work day, verify that you have correctly and completely entered all your New Time for the previous day. Use <Alt-N> to total the Time and be sure it is complete. 2. Choose "Store New Time" from the Time Pulldown. This transfers your completed New Time Records to the permanent Time File, and optionally prints a New Time Report. If necessary, deliver the Report to whoever handles your time records. 3. You may wish to view the "Month Summary" at the Time Pulldown. This will show you total billable and unbillable hours for the Current Month, a projection of total Time through the end of the Month, and any days for which your Time is missing or incomplete. 4. Now check your Schedule. Press <Alt-U> to "Update" Records from prior days. This redates all prior To Do's to today's date, deletes all old Reminders and Blocks, and moves all old Yearly's to next year. You must manually move or delete each Appointment and Deadline by Editing the Record to change the Date. Remember the <+> key. 5. Organize your day. Move all To Do's you do not need to get done today to later. Try Flagging these with <Alt-F> at the Sched List, then using <Alt-M> "Move" to redate them as a group to a later date. 6. Be sure all appointments and Deadlines for the day (and for that matter for future days) are correctly posted. 7. Resolve scheduling conflicts as necessary. 8. Get to work on the remaining tasks for the day. As you finish them, either Delete them or press <Alt-T> at the Sched List to transfer them from Sched to the New Time File. This partially completes your New Time Record based on the contents of the now deleted Sched Record. You will still have to finish the New Time Record up by inserting the correct amount of Time and probably completing the Memo, but part of the work is done for you. 9. If by chance you finish your Sched List before the day is over, attack the List for upcoming days. 10. Use the Names List Tools Menu choice "Make Call" to help you with this repetitive task. It is a real time saver if you have a modem so that it can do the dialing for you, especially in those hellish offices where you must dial a long matter number as well as a long phone number. GETTING STARTED WITH PRO Page 26 =============================================================================== 11. Run the other programs you frequently use from the Prog Menu. This requires a little setup work at the Util "Prog Menu" choice, but it will really save you a lot of effort for a slight investment of time. This concludes this brief orientation. Remember: there is a lot more to know in the Manual and Help File. Take the time to explore the capabilities of your program. Meanwhile, if you have worked through these steps, you will be off and running as an effective PRO user. FOR VERY COMPLETE INFORMATION ON THE PROGRAM, REGISTER AS A PRO USER AND RECEIVE THE 300+ PAGE MANUAL.